Rarely do the NBA schedule-makers devise a more diverse – even sadistic – back-to-back scenario than the Nets encountered this week.

On Sunday, the Nets were in Detroit for the winter molasses, tire irons and chains pace of a game with the Pistons.

Last night, they were back home for the kids-on-caffeine frenzy that is the Phoenix Suns’ style.

Most teams would face death by boredom then death by over-exertion. But the Nets are not playing like most teams these days. They may be under the NBA national conscience radar, but they went into Detroit and ran their winning streak to eight games. Then they returned home for the opposite pole of the Suns. In a perfect Nets’ world, not everyone is noticing, and the win in Detroit didn’t get everyone’s attention.

“I really hope that nobody thinks we are that good and we keep getting underestimated,” said Richard Jefferson, knowing that’s really just wishful thinking. “We have the respect of other teams that we play and that is all that matters. I don’t think we need to worry about TV games and what the media is saying. At the end of the day we are a pretty good team and we will be able to compete against the best.”

They certainly are getting the chance to show they can. Their eight-game streak has included the Lakers, Hornets, Mavs and Pistons among their victims. Now come the Suns, followed by the Grizzlies. After the Nets take a trip to Atlanta (where they have lost to the Hawks this season), the Heat rumble into New Jersey. Only the Spurs are missing from the very high elite in this stretch.

“We’re playing for positioning in the playoffs, so it’s a challenge for us night in and night out to get the job done,” said Vince Carter, who scored 22 points and then blocked and stole Detroit’s final inbounds pass to preserve a 79-74 ugly as sin win Sunday. “It’s not about proving a point or anything. We’re just trying to win as many games, first and foremost, to peak at the right time. And second is to get the best position we can.”

The Nets did it with defense in Detroit against the best team in the league, a team whose recent defensive step-up has clobbered most opponents. The Pistons had a 16-game home winning streak.

Not any more.

“When two teams are familiar with each other, it’s a defense-oriented, grind-it-out, possession-oriented game,” coach Lawrence Frank said, summing up the victory over the Pistons, perhaps the Nets’ most eye-opening win of the season. “We talked about not letting your offense affect your defense.”

The Nets didn’t do that. They shot just 37 percent. But the Pistons were worse: 34 percent.

So in came the Suns with Amare Stoudemire back in the lineup.

“Completely opposite,” Jefferson said. “It’s more fast-paced. You have to make them play your style, a little more slow-down, a little more deliberate.”

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Tim Thomas, sought by the Nets when he was bought out by Chicago, said he would definitely listen if the Nets came calling this summer when he’s a free agent. “New Jersey is still an option. I mean, I’m not sitting here saying that at the end of the year if they offered me a deal I would turn it down or not think about it,” said Thomas, who may be beyond the Nets’ price range . . . Nenad Krstic said he suffered a sprained left thumb Sunday in Detroit but would play through it. “It’s a little sore,” he said, “but it’s all right.”